Chapter 7 - THE FIRST PERSON WHO SPOKE
Claire agreed to meet in a crowded diner, provided Emma came without Vincent.
“People get nervous when a man like that decides he's helping,” she said over the phone.
Emma understood.
Nora arranged for Claire to speak with an independent attorney first. By the time Emma arrived, Claire had chosen a booth facing both exits.
She was younger than Emma expected, with bitten nails and a baby's photograph tucked inside her clear phone case.
“Your father was approved,” she said immediately. “I processed his application.”
Emma set down her coffee.
“Then why did we get a denial?”
“Because after I entered approvals, the files went upstairs. Some came back marked ineligible. But the monthly totals still showed the money going out.”
“You told someone?”
Claire gave a short, ugly laugh.
“Adrian Wells. He said I'd misunderstood the accounting. Two weeks later, they said I had accessed files outside my role.”
She slid a dismissal letter across the table.
“I kept my own complaint and the emails I sent. No patient records. No account numbers. They still made me sound like a thief.”
Emma read the date. Claire had complained five days after Daniel received his rejection.
“Why didn't you go public?”
“With what? A baby, no paycheck, and a letter saying I'd stolen people's medical information?”
Emma looked at the photograph in the phone case.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be sorry. Just don't let them do it to you.”
Claire explained that the payments went through Lakefront Care Services, supposedly a company arranging treatment and transportation. She had never been able to reach a patient coordinator there.
“Victoria told us to stop calling. Said we were embarrassing an important partner.”
With Claire's consent, her lawyer delivered her complaint to the auditors. They found it preserved in the fund's email archive.
It had been forwarded to Adrian, then to Victoria.
Neither had sent it to the board.
That night, Vincent called Emma.
“Lakefront's registration leads to a management company. The auditors are tracing the owners.”
“Can Victoria move the money?”
“We're restricting access while counsel makes the referrals.”
As Emma listened, another call appeared on her screen.
Daniel's hospital.
May you like
She switched lines.
“Your father has been admitted,” a nurse said. “He asked us not to worry you, but you should come.”
